TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Northern Ireland Trophy was innaugurated in 2005 as an invitational event comprising of 20 players. Last season in August 2006 the tournament was given ranking event status. Both events were held at The Waterfront Hall, Belfast.

The 2005 invitational event was won by Matthew Stevens who beat Stephen Hendry 9-7 in the final. Two wildcards were included in this event, Mark Allen the Belfast player who made a name for himself by beating Steve Davis 4-0 in the first round and then beating John Higgins 4-1 in the second round before being stopped by Stephen Hendry 5-1 in the quarter-final. The other wildcard was Ding Junhui the Chinese star, who earlier in the year had surprised everyone and caused a sensation at home in China, when he beat Stephen Hendry 9-5 in the China Open to win his first ranking event. But in this event it was Hendry that took revenge for China when he beat Ding 4-2 in the last 16. Ding had earlier beaten Allister Carter 4-0 in the opening round and had looked favourite to progress further.

2005 Matthew Stevens

Matthew Stevens claimed the scalps of Ken Doherty, Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson on the way to victory with century breaks of 105 and 100.

Australian Neil Robertson was another surpise player in the 2005 event. Ranked at 28 that season he was rapidly climbing into the area of the top players. He took out Ian McCulloch 4-0 in the opening round and then sent home Jimmy White beating him 4-2. But his best victory was to knock the newly crowned world champion Shaun Murphy out of the tournament in a close battle that Robertson won 5-4 on the deciding frame to go into the next round against the eventual winner Matthew Stevens.

The innaugural event was warmly appreciated by all involved. The venue itself was superb and the response from the local fans in Belfast was great. When news was received at the start of this season that the event would continue and further more that it was to be upgraded to a ranking event, the news was enthusiastically received.

The 2006 event involved 48 players who made the journey to Belfast and The Waterfront Hall. The event was now covered by TG4 for Irish television. Although unfortunately the event was still being held in August, which by many is considered far too early for the start of the snooker season, with other sports like cricket, tennis and golf dominating the headlines.

This time the event produced a memorable final as Chinese snooker star Ding Junhui met Ronnie O'Sullivan. Ding had already claimed his second ranking event victory at the end of the previous season when he defeated an on-form Steve Davis 10-6 to win the 2005 UK Championship. Now it was Ding's turn to open the season as he defeated Ronnie 9-6 in what was a strange final. Ronnie had eclipsed Ding in the afternoon session and looked favourite to lift the title, but in the second session it was Ding that outclassed Ronnie, even at one stage looking on course for a 147 maximum.

On course to the final, Ronnie had recorded a 6-0 whitewash against Dominic Dale in the semi-final which earned him a place in the record books. Ronnie shattered the record for the quickest best of eleven frame victory in professional snooker history, taking just 53 minutes. The previous quickest had been between Stephen Hendy and Dave Harold which took 71 minutes in the 1993 International Open at Plymouth.

Defending champion Matthew Stevens had not been at his best form for the start of the season as he went out 5-2 to Ronnie in the last 16.

Current world champion Graeme Dott beat Jamie Burnett and Mark Selby on his way to the quarter-final's, but here he lost 5-2 to Dominic Dale.

Ding's victory propelled him into 5th place in the provisional rankings from his official position of 27th.

In 2007 Stephen Maguire took the title, beating Fergal O'Brien 9-5, the event was played in November that year, a change from its usual spot as the opening tournament of the new season.

The tournament returned to its usual spot in 2008; heralding the new season, which saw Ronnie O'Sullivan beat an on-form Dave Harold 9-3. Harold had stamped his name on the tournament, beating the defending champion Stephen Maguire in the quarter-final and then John Higgins to reach the final; a great achievement for the Stoke player. O'Sullivan though was having none of it and convincingly beat Harold to win the first trophy of the season; he was already world champion and world No 1 and this result, his 21st ranking title, propelled him far above the rest of the pack. O'Sullivan stated afterwards that he felt he could reach 30 ranking titles, a challenge to Steve Davis's record of 28. "I should be able to get past that. I have thought about it, and seven more is not that many," he said.